Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Protest San Diego Pride

Concerned members of LGBT community organize multiple protests duringConsolidated Association of Pride (CAPI) conference this weekendProtest will highlight community’s demand for resignation of LGBT Pride Board of Directors

January 20, 2010 (SAN DIEGO) -- A group of concerned members of the San Diego lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community have organized two protests in response to recent unethical actions committed by the organization’s Board of Directors.

The first protest will be held on Friday, January 22 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. at the San Diego Pride office building at 3620 30th Street, San Diego CA 92104 during a welcome reception hosted by San Diego Pride for attendees of the annual Consolidated Association of Pride (CAPI) conference located.

The second protest will be held on Saturday, January 23 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. at The Chuck Jones Gallery at 232 5th Avenue, San Diego CA 92101, which will be the first of four locations in “A Taste Of San Diego” event, designed to entertain guests of the CAPI conference at various locations throughout the city.

Concerned members of LGBT community organize multiple protests duringConsolidated Association of Pride (CAPI) conference this weekendProtest will highlight community’s demand for resignation of LGBT Pride Board of Directors

January 20, 2010 (SAN DIEGO) -- A group of concerned members of the San Diego lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community have organized two protests in response to recent unethical actions committed by the organization’s Board of Directors.

The first protest will be held on Friday, January 22 from 6:00-7:00 p.m. at the San Diego Pride office building at 3620 30th Street, San Diego CA 92104 during a welcome reception hosted by San Diego Pride for attendees of the annual Consolidated Association of Pride (CAPI) conference located.

The second protest will be held on Saturday, January 23 from 6:00 – 7:00 p.m. at The Chuck Jones Gallery at 232 5th Avenue, San Diego CA 92101, which will be the first of four locations in “A Taste Of San Diego” event, designed to entertain guests of the CAPI conference at various locations throughout the city.

The group of citizens organizing the protests are demanding the resignations of three members of San Diego Pride’s Board after it was revealed that the Board voted to provide Board Chair Philip Princetta with a $5,000 stipend for his service, which is clearly in violation of the nonprofit organization’s bylaws. Pride’s Executive Director Ron deHarte was terminated on January 4, 2010 after making this transaction public. Two Pride staff members, Ken St. Pierre and Jeffrey Redondo, resigned the same day in protest of the board’s actions.

Dozens of LGBT community leaders, organizations, and countless volunteers and community members have demanded that this board resign and the terminated staff members be reinstated. A community town hall meeting was called for by former Pride board members on January 11 and over 200 community members gathered, unanimously calling upon the resignation of Princetta, and fellow board members Mike Karim and Carl Worrell.

The organizers of the protest hope to continue to pressure the sitting Board of Directors to do the right thing by resigning, making way for other community leaders to come on board. The protest has been planned to bring light to the board’s actions in front of their national Pride organization peers.